PHILLIES: Out of sync' Biddle taking break from pitching in Reading

Phillies pitcher Jesse Biddle, here during a spring training practice in February, has been struggling mightily since suffering a concussion last month while playing for Double-A Reading. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

PHILADELPHIA — For an organization having a talent crisis in the minor leagues, the Phillies have gotten pretty nice pitching performances this year from rookies David Buchanan, Mario Hollands and Ken Giles, none of which arrived in spring training with expectations that they would be impact big-leaguers in 2014, if at all.

Jesse Biddle, however, did have expectations. Even after a rollercoaster 2013 during which he dealt with a long bout of whooping cough, the Phillies’ top pick in the 2010 draft had the raw tools to make a push in a pivotal development season for the 22-year-old Philly native.

Instead, he has gone off the rails so badly in recent weeks that the Phillies announced the southpaw was going on the inactive list for what general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. described in a statement as “a mental break.”

Biddle, who is 3-9 with a 5.03 ERA and six errors committed in 15 starts for Double-A Reading, told the Reading Eagle that “everything feels out of sync.”

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“Nothing feels fluid on the mound, nothing feels natural, nothing feels right,” Biddle told the Eagle. “I just want to pitch, but at the same time there’s a lot of stuff going on in between my ears that I can’t really understand.

“I have never felt this way before in my entire life, in my entire career.”

Biddle had been having an up-and-down season through his first 10 starts, with his ability to keep batters from making good contact countered by his control and fielding issues. However, it was after taking a hailstone to the head late last month that things really unraveled.

Biddle missed a start due to the concussion, then went 0-5 with a 9.82 ERA in the five starts that followed. That was capped by a three-inning outing Monday in which he allowed 10 earned runs.

The organization didn’t have much to say about Biddle, who was ranked as the 71st-best prospect by Baseball America entering the season. Biddle said Reading pitching coach Dave Lundquist delivered the news about his respite.

“He said, ‘We don’t want you to beat yourself up anymore. We want to take some of the pressure off of you for a little bit, have you be able to regain yourself,’” Biddle told the Eagle.

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The Phillies announced the spot starter who will be the 26th man added for Saturday’s doubleheader against the Braves.

It won’t be Brad Lincoln, who has been the best starter for Triple-A Lehigh Valley since he was sent to the minors after struggling as a reliever for the Phils in April.

In what is a move built out of strategy, Sean O’Sullivan will make that one-and-done start. The veteran right-hander is 3-6 with a 4.31 ERA in 15 starts for the Iron Pigs, but his call-up has more to do with what happens when the day ends.

O’Sullivan is likely to get through waivers when the Phillies have to ship him back to the minors. Lincoln, however, would be at risk of being snatched up by a pitching-desperate team like the Rangers, and the Phillies can’t afford to lose any more starting depth (see: Biddle, Jesse).

“He’s one of the more experienced guys down there,” Ryne Sandberg said of O’Sullivan, 26, who is 10-16 with a 5.89 ERA in 50 big-league games (37 starts).